…for decades the room has been the same: four walls, a podium, and a projector. PowerPoints today mimic the effect of a centuries-old continuous-slide lantern. Even when time is occasionally left for questions at the end of lectures, it’s still a distinctly one-way flow of information. Scientific posters are similarly archaic.
Ngumbi, E. & Lovett, B. (2019). Science Conferences Are Stuck in the Dark Ages. Wired magazine.
Anyone who’s gone to an academic conference and reflected on it for more than a moment usually arrives at the conclusion that the experience is distinctly underwhelming. I’m not going to go into the details of why since Ben and I discussed it at length in our reflection on WCPT and the Unposter on the podcast, but the general idea is that most conferences suck because of the format.
And this is why you really need to think about coming to the second In Beta unconference on physiotherapy education at HAN in the Netherlands on the 14th and 15th of September 2020. The unconference will take place soon after the ENPHE/ER-WCPT conference, so if you’re attending that meeting then it’s a no-brainer to stay on for a few days and come to Nijmegen for something quite different. Click on the image below for more information.
